This  book  may  be  kept  out 

TWO  WEEKS 

only,  and  is  subject  to  a  fine  of  TWO 
CENTS  a  day  thereafter.  It  will  be  due  on 
the  day  indicated  below. 


9   13  M. 


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FEB  3 


1928 


APR  2  6  1930 

MAY  2  3 1931 


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X-c4*exrCt^  r  r  f. 


The  Country  Church  and  the  Making 

of  Manhood 

By 

GEORGE  FREDERICK  WELLS 

MADISON,  N.  J. 


REPRINTED  FROM  THE  HOMILETIC  REVIEW 
August  1907 


Copyright  1907,  by 
FUNK  &  WAQNALLS  COMPANY,  NEW  YORK 


Before  we  can  answer  the  question  of 
how  the  country  church  can  do  the  work  of 
making  manhood,  of  how  the  world  of  the 
young  men  and  the  world  of  the  country 
church  can  be  united,  we  must  show  how  the 
problem  has  arisen.  The  problem  appears 
from  the  following  conditions : 

We  live  in  civilized  rather  than  in  barbar- 
ian or  semicivilized  society.  In  nations  like 
India  and  China  boys  become  men  and  hence 
independent  to  found  homes  of  their  own  at 
adolescence;  with  us,  not  until  maturity. 
Civilization  demands  of  the  parental  home, 
in  the  problem  of  which  the  church  shares, 
the  duty  and  the  privilege  of  moral  and 
economic  training  and  cooperation  of  adoles- 
cents, which  was  never  before  so  great  a 
responsibility  as  now. 

We  live  In  a  time  of  Protestant  freedom  of 
personal  thought  and  conscience,  rather  than 


in  a  time  of  ecclesiastical  dominance.  Every 
young  man  to-day  can  make  a  creed,  a  char- 
acter, and  a  destiny  of  his  own. 

We  live  in  a  land  of  republican  freedom 
rather  than  in  a  land  of  monarchical  tyranny. 
The  victory  of  national  rights  in  the  American 
Revolution  has  been  an  incentive  to  an  ex- 
aggerated sense  of  personal  rights.  The  work 
of  training  young  America  to  proper  respect 
for  authority  was  never  more  important  than 
now. 

We  live  in  an  era  of  science.  The  young 
man  gets  his  essential  guiding  truth  on  the 
evidence  of  experience,  no  longer  on  the  dic- 
tum of  priest,  prelate,  or  professor. 

We  live  at  a  time  of  industry  and  commerce 
organized  on  a  world  scale,  not  in  the  day  of 
homespun.  The  young  man's  world  was  once 
the  parish  or  neighborhood,  now  he  is  a  citizen 
of  tha  world. 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  AND  THE  MAKING  OF  MANHOOD  103 


We  are  now  past  the  epoch  when  the  con- 
struction of  manhood  takes  place  in  the 
country,  while  the  consumption  of  it  is  in  the 
city.  Our  cities  would  stagnate  to  putrid 
shuns  of  human  existence  that  would  dis- 
grace heathenism  were  it  not  that  they  were 
replenished  by  the  dominant  manhood  from 
country  hillsides.  But  we  are  now  at  a  time 
of  unprecedented  crisis  when  all  the  evil  must 
be  eliminated  from  both  urban  and  rural 
life  and  all  the  good  of  both  be  utilized  in  be- 
half of  a  manhood  that  shall  be  capable  of 
personal  leadership  in  an  entirely  new  civili- 
zation. 

Thus  it  is  that  the  conditions  of  modern  life 
demand  the  greatest  possible  strength  of  the 
fundamental  institutions  of  society,  the  finest 
integrity  of  personal  character,  and  the  wisest 
adjustments  of  working  religious  forces.  In 
view  of  these  changes  and  needs,  the  lines 
along  which  the  country  church  should  direct 
its  efforts  in  behalf  of  growing  manhood  are 
such  as  the  following: 

The  country  church  should  see  that  every 
country  boy  has  a  normal  Christian  home. 
There  are  things  which,  if  the  country  church 
can  get  the  homes  to  furnish  for  the  boys, 
manhood  is  pretty  much  secure. 

The  first  is  passion  for  character,  or  the 
burning  desire  for  the  boy's  spiritual  life 
that  he  become  a  conscious  child  of  God. 
This  is  preeminently  the  direct  work  of  the 
home,  and  no  more  than  the  indirect  work 
of  the  church. 

The  parental  discipline  of  the  boy  is  ab- 
solutely necessary  as  the  only  possible 
foundation  for  a  normal  religious  character  or 
a  normal  social  life.  There  is  no  room  for 
tyranny  in  the  home.  Successful  tyranny 
by  the  parent  makes  the  child  a  machine. 
But  there  will  be  either  discipline  by  the  par- 
ent or  tyranny  by  the  boy.  There  are  three 
kinds  of  homes.  In  the  first  the  wife  is  the 
social  and  the  moral  head.  The  husband 
and  the  children  obey  the  will  of  the  wife  and 
mother.  She  holds  the  scepter.  The  father  is 
head  of  the  second  kind  of  home.  The  typical 
Jewish,  Greek,  Roman,  and  American  family  is 
of  this  class.  The  father  is  not  only  the  social 
and  moral  head  of  the  household,  but  the 
legal  head  as  well.  The  third  kind  of  home 
is  that  in  which  the  child  rules.  Even  from 
babyhood  his  will  is  law  in  the  home.  When 
the  boy  is  king  in  the  family  he  is  always  a 
tyrant,  and  the  home  a  moral  and  religious 
failure  and  a  disgrace  to  parenthood. 


Responsibility  is  another  thing  the  country 
home  should  provide  for  the  boy.  There  is 
nothing  else  that  will  so  well  tide  the  boy  over 
the  critical  stage  of  adolescence  as  work, 
work  wisely  allotted  and  directed,  and  which 
carries  with  it  the  sense  of  independent  re- 
sponsibility. Herein  is  the  basis  of  economic 
and  social  cooperation  and  partnership  of 
father  and  son.  ,  It  is  the  beginning  of  true 
fellowship;  it  saves  discipline  and  control 
from  tyranny;  and  it  is  the  source,  test,  and 
pledge  of  true  manhood. 

There  should  be  provision  for  social  inter- 
ests. The  first  and  greatest  responsibility 
for  the  social  life  of  developing  manhood  rests 
not  with  the  church,  nor  the  school,  nor  the 
club,  but  with  the  home  itself.  I  do  not  say 
that  the  enjoyable  social  enterprises  of  young 
people  should  be  monopolized  by  the  home. 
This  would  be  a  return  to  homespun  times 
with  its  husking  bees,  quilting  parties,  and 
barn  raisings,  which  would  not  be  entirely 
ideal.  But  the  home  should  control  the  so- 
cialization of  the  boy.  This  in  the  present 
state  of  society  it  can  best  do  by  cooperation 
with  the  church  and  the  school.  But  the 
church  should  control  and  not  neglect  these 
interests. 

Moreover,  the  Christian  parent  who  has  not 
time  nor  humanity  enough  to  enjoy  fellow- 
ship with  his  boys  is  not  worthy  of  them. 
The  ideal  relationship  between  parent  and 
boy  in  the  postadolescent  stage,  and  after 
majority,  is  that  of  mutual  interest  in  all 
social,  intellectual,  and  economic  affairs.  This 
should  be  without  subordination  and  dis- 
trust. It  is  a  high  ideal,  but  it  is  none  too 
high.  It  is  measurably  realized  in  all  true 
homes. 

I  believe,  with  Dr.  Samuel  W.  Dike,  that 
the  fundamental  social  duty  of  the  Christian 
church  is  to  maintain  the  full  social  and  re- 
ligious integrity  of  the  home.  More  specific 
than  this,  the  most  important  work  that  the 
country  church  can  do  in  behalf  of  Christian 
manhood  is  through  the  home.  And  this 
work  is  essentially  pastoral.  Thirteen  per 
cent,  of  the  country  ministers  I  have  studied 
are  better  pastors  than  preachers.  I  wish 
the  per  cent,  of  pastors  were  larger.  The  very 
glory  of  the  Christian  pastorate  is  its  ministry 
to  the  Christian  home  for  the  home's  sake, 
for  there  is  manhood  made. 

The  greatest  possible  harm  that  a  country 
church  can  do  is  to  allow  itself  to  become  a 
substitute  with  the  young  man  for  what  the 


104  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  AND  THE  MAKING  OF  MANHOOD 


home  can  be  made,  to  do  and  to  become  for 
him.  If  the  country  church  fails  to  do  its 
primary  duty  through  the  home,  whatever 
else  it  may  do  for  manhood,  whether  it 
be  by  evangelism  or  institutionalism,  this 
secondary  work  can  only  be  superficial  and 
secondary. 

The  place  and  the  power  of  the  country 
home  with  young  manhood  will  become  more 
evident  by  contrasting  the  home  life  of  the 
country  with  the  lack  of  it  in  tenement  dis- 
tricts in  large  cities.  In  the  country  the 
Christianity  of  the  normal  home  should  al- 
most dispense  with  the  religious  functions 
of  the  church,  while  among  filthy  and  poverty- 
stricken  tenements  the  church  is  compelled 
to  be  a  substitute  for  the  social  life  of  the 
home,  at  least  while  true  homes  are  in  the 
forming.  The  church  is  an  outgrowth  of  the 
home.  The  church  exists  for  the  home,  as  it 
exists  for  man,  and  its  offices  and  organiza- 
tions should  disappear  when  their  work  is 
done. 

The  country  church  must  vindicate  itself 
in  the  making  of  manhood  by  the  power  of 
personal  influence.  One  of  the  reasons  why 
the  work  of  the  church  for  manhood  through 
the  home  is  so  important  is  that  thereby 
the  church  multiplies  its  area  of  applied  per- 
sonal influence. 

It  may  sometimes  seem  that  the  country 
chiirch  can  do  its  full  work  for  manhood 
through  the  home.  But  this  is  not  so  now. 
We  five  in  an  age  of  institutions.  The  grow- 
ing boy  must  relate  himself  to  institutions. 
He  must  become  institutionalized  in  order  to 
become  a  man.  The  church  must  express 
itself  to  him  as  an  institution  of  which  he  is 
potentially  and  really  a  part.  And  it  is  be- 
cause the  boy  first  learns  of  the  church  as  an 
institution  through  the  persons  who  repre- 
sent it  as  such  that  the  church  must  vindi- 
cate itself  through  personal  influence. 

In  making  a  first-hand  investigation  I 
asked  of  forty-one  churches  (twenty-seven 
rural  and  fourteen  town)  the  following  ques- 
tion: "By  what  influence  does  the  church 
draw  and  hold  its  constituency?"  The  an- 
swers from  pastors  and  other  judicious  persons 
yielded  ninety-four  points  of  drawing  and 
holding  power.  Of  these  ninety-four  points, 
twenty-two,  or  nearly  one-fourth  of  the  whole, 
indicate  that  the  minister  by  his  personality 
is  the  greatest  drawing  and  molding  force 
available  to  the  country  church.  The  one  who 
has  the  primary  and  the  principal  responsi- 


bility in  imparting  the  institutional  value 
of  the  church  through  personality  is  the 
minister. 

But  the  minister  has  not  the  whole  nor  a 
half  of  this  duty  to  fulfil.  For  instance,  what 
can  a  minister  do,  tho  he  be  an  angel,  for  the 
young  men  of  a  community  if  a  group  of 
pessimistic,  disagreeable,  antiquated  lay  peo- 
ple make  the  young  men  hate  all  that  the 
church  should  stand  for  ?  On  the  other  hand, 
some  country  churches  have  done  great  work 
in  building  manhood  by  the  personal  influence 
of  talented  lay  workers,  even  tho  the  pastors 
have  been  inferior  men  or  absent  from  parish 
work  most  of  the  time. 

The  country  church  has  a  special  duty  to 
perform  toward  the  making  of  manhood  by 
strengthening  the  personnel  of  its  ministry. 

The  following  facts  are  about  thirty-seven 
ministers  of  nine  denominations  in  twenty 
average  towns  scattered  throughout  one  New- 
England  State.  All  of  the  ministers  of  these 
communities  were  studied,  as  far  as  possible, 
personally,  and  in  connection  with  their  work. 
Twenty  of  them  are  in  distinctly  rural  par- 
ishes. Only  fifty-four  per  cent,  of  the  total 
number  are  college  graduates,  forty  per  cent. 
of  the  rural  preachers.  Forty-three  per  cent, 
of  the  whole  are  theological-seminary  gradu- 
ates, only  twenty-five  per  cent,  of  the  rural 
preachers.  Ninety  per  cent,  of  the  rural 
preachers  showed  that  their  usefulness  was 
crippled  by  too  small  salaries.  Fifty-one  per 
cent,  of  the  whole  number  are  thus  hindered. 
Forty-three  per  cent,  only  have  definite 
specialties  in  study  or  work.  Forty-six  per 
cent,  only  have  any  special  social  aptitude. 
Twenty-seven  per  cent,  were  all  I  could  find 
with  marked  business  aptitude.  Forty-three 
per  cent,  of  the  total  number,  or  seventy-five 
per  cent,  of  the  rural  preachers,  seemed  to 
be  lacking  in  efficiency  from  inadequate  ed- 
ucational equipment.  Sixteen  of  the  total 
thirty-seven  ministers  (forty-three  per  cent.) 
or  thirteen  of  the  twenty  rural  preachers 
seemed  to  be  suffering  from  laziness  or  some- 
thing akin  to  it. 

How  can  a  minister  who  has  never  been  to 
college  himself  help  in  any  adequate  way  to 
solve  a  young  man's  college  problem  ?  How 
can  a  minister  who  has  never  traveled  beyond 
his  own  State  nor  seen  a  great  city  help  to 
form  his  young  men  into  citizens  of  the  world  ? 
It  is  only  fair  to  say,  however,  that  twenty- 
five  per  cent,  of  the  above  ministers  have  had 
educative  travel  in  Europe.     How  can  the 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  AND  THE  MAKING  OF  MANHOOD  105 


country  ministry  as  a  class,  when  less  than 
half  of  them  have  been  to  theological  st*n- 
inaries,  hope  adequately  to  help  young  men 
with  their  theological  instruction  ?  How  can 
ministers  who  do  not  exert  themselves  to  do 
progressive  and  productive  work,  but  are 
willing  that  their  reputation  should  rest  in 
their  being  ministers,  expect  to  command 
the  leadership  of  young  men  who  have  to  per- 
form productive  labor  ?  Too  many  country 
preachers  are  content  to  stagnate  with  their 
more  or  less  isolated  parishes  and  thus  they 
fall  into  ruts  and  fail  in  personal  mastery. 
Men  who  do  not  know  how  to  do  the  work  of 
ministers  productively  and  efficiently  have 
something  akin  to  laziness  if  they  have  not 
the  enterprise  to  get  the  special  training  which 
they  require.  There  is  a  large  place  for  op- 
timism, however,  that  at  least  thirty  per  cent, 
of  the  rural  preachers  I  have  studied  may 
be  counted  as  strong,  active  men  and  min- 
isters, not  failing  in  personal  leadership. 

These  words  about  ministers  are  not  said 
in  the  spirit  of  criticism,  but  of  sympathetic 
earnestness.  I  am  not  making  a  plea  for 
education  for  education's  sake,  nor  that  the 
ministers  come  to  any  merely  external 
standard.  What  the  country  church  most 
needs  from  its  ministers  in  the  making  of 
manhood  is  more  genuine  Christian  character, 
made  available  by  consecration  to  God  and 
to  the  direct  ends  which  we  seek  to  gain. 

The  country  church  must  adapt  its  theo- 
logical teachings  to  the  needs  of  developing 
manhood.  In  doing  this  the  church  must 
vindicate  God — make  Him  in  and  through 
Christ  real  in  the  lives  and  experiences  of 
men.  The  temper  of  his  theological  in- 
struction may  be  set  by  Thomas  Chalmers's 
great  declaration:  "There  never  will  be  a 
general  revival  of  religion  until  Christians  at 
home  go  forth  among  the  heathen  families 
around  them,  with  the  same  enthusiasm  that 
they  expect  from  missionaries  who  go 
abroad." 

Of  the  ninety-four  points  of  the  country 
church's  drawing  and  holding  power  twenty- 
seven  contain  some  element  of  theological 
import.  Of  these  twenty-seven  points  only 
eight  indicate  that  theological  teaching  itself 
is  a  direct  means  of  making  and  molding  the 
life  of  the  church.  This  is  a  very  good  posi- 
tive showing.  On  the  other  hand,  six  out  of 
the  forty-eight  churches  were  said  to  be  suf- 
fering from  detrimental  or  inadequate  theo- 
logical teachings  or  influences. 


A  country  church  is  not  a  theological  sem- 
inary. To  give  theological  knowledge  is  not 
the  object  of  the  church.  Nevertheless, 
knowledge  is  a  means  to  character.  In  so  far 
as  doctrinal  knowledge  is  a  means  to  man- 
hood, the  church  should  give  it.  The  only 
true  way  of  telling  what  doctrines  should  be 
taught,  and  how,  is  to  learn  the  personal  needs 
of  individuals.  Young  men  care  for  theology 
only  as  it  has  affected  the  life  of  the  teacher, 
and  as  it  has  a  message  to  his  experience  and 
theirs  in  relation  to  God,  duty,  and  destiny. 

One  young  man  tells  me  that  the  Bible  and 
the  church  influenced  him  until  the  question 
of  the  miraculous  conception  of  Christ  was  not 
answered  to  his  satisfaction,  then  the  church 
and  the  Bible  lost  hold  on  him.  The  fol- 
lowing questions  from  young  men  illustrate 
how  theological  teaching  is  to  them  a  matter 
of  experience  and  character: 

"Should  matters  of  faith  or  belief  be  set- 
tled before  or  after  conversion  ?  " 

"  Does  Christianity  afford  the  normal  chan- 
nel for  the  development  of  our  talents  ?" 

"Did  Christ  show  to  a  sinning  world  a  way 
to  be  saved  by  following  His  example,  or 
did  He  wipe  away  our  sins  in  some  super- 
natural way  on  condition  of  true  repentance  ?  " 

The  secret  of  the  successful  study  and 
teaching  of  theology  is  that  it  should  be 
consecrated  to  missionary  ends.  If  faith 
without  works  is  dead,  so  is  theology  without 
religious  experience.  The  work  of  the  coun- 
try church  is  not  to  make  theologians,  but 
men.  The  man  who  teaches  theology  in  the 
churches  for  the  sake  of  vindicating  theolog- 
ical theories  is  not  only  killing  his  church 
but  harming  himself.  But  the  theology  of 
God  in  the  churches  is  of  tremendous  power 
when  it  is  used  with  the  experience  of  God  in 
making  Him  real  as  Father,  King,  and  per- 
sonal Savior. 

Still  further,  the  country  churches  must 
vindicate  themselves  as  churches  before  they 
can  do  their  work  in  making  manhood.  A 
church  must  be  a  church  before  it  can  bear 
the  fruits  of  a  church.  I  mean  to  say  that 
some  country  churches  are  such  in  name  only, 
that  they  are  not  Christian  churches  in  real- 
ity. Some  country  churches,  so-called,  are 
mere  social  clubs.  This  is  not  to  say  that 
they  are  not  of  some  social  value  to  the  king- 
dom of  God.  Some  churches  are  ethical  or 
educational  associations  and  ought  to  be  so 
named.  This  is  not  to  say  that  they  are  not 
of  some  value  in  morals  for  the  kingdom  of 
God.     Some  public  libraries  do  a  work  that 


106  THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  AND  THE  MAKING  OF  MANHOOD 


represents  the  ethical  and  religious  aspects 
of  the  kingdom  of  God  as  truly  as  do  some 
churches. 

The  sciences  of  practical  Christian  ethics 
and  rural  economy  now  being  used  in  study- 
ing country  churches,  are  to  be  of  great  prac- 
tical service.  They  will  study  the  genius  loci 
of  churches.  They  will  classify  the  churches 
according  to  the  particular  aspects  of  the 
kingdom  of  God  for  which  they  stand.  By 
the  use  of  these  sciences  some  churches  al- 
ready have  been  found  to  stand  for  the  special 
ethical  and  religious  aspects  of  that  kingdom, 
while  others  stand  solely  for  intellectuality, 
astheticism,  moral  energy,  respectability  or 
social  selection,  sociability  or  social  enjoy- 
ment, emotionalism  or  religious  enjoyment, 
traditionalism  and  other  qualities  more  or  less 
worthy.  Scientific  sociology  says  that  the 
church  is  that  p?,rt  of  the  social  constitution 
which  seeks  to  promote  the  religious  and 
ethical  betterment  of  men.  Christian  theol- 
ogy says  that  that  specialized  part  of  the 
organized  expression  of  the  kingdom  of  God 
among  men  which  embodies  and  promul- 
gates the  distinctly  ethical  and  religious 
aspects  of  the  kingdom  is  the  Christian 
church. 

So  let  us  never  forget  that  a  social  insti- 
tution must  stand  for  the  ethical  and  religious 
values  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  always  and 
preeminently,  and  for  other  values  as  it  may 
need  to  forward  these  ends,  in  order  to  be  a 
Christian  church. 

One  set  of  figures  will  make  the  practical 
bearing  of  this  more  clear.  In  thirteen  rural 
New-England  towns  the  average  attendance 
at  all  churches  is  only  fourteen  per  cent,  of 
the  town  populations.  In  four  semiurban 
towns  the  average  total  church  attendance  is 
thirty-three  per  cent,  of  the  town  population. 
What  should  give  a  larger  percentage  of 
attendance  to  the  larger  towns?  Almost 
every  assignable  reason  would  seem  to  make 
the  per  cent  of  attendance  larger  for  the  rural 
towns.  In  a  good  share  of  the  rural  com- 
munities the  churches  were  not  only  religious 
centers  but  the  social  and  educational  cen- 
ters as  well.  Should  not  this  tend  to  in- 
crease church  attendance  in  such  places  ?  On 
the  other  hand,  in  the  four  urban  towns,where 
the  per  cent,  of  church  attendance  is  over 
twice  as  great,  the  churches,  instead  of  having 
a  clear  social  field,  have  many  rivals, — secret 
fraternities,  social  clubs,  the  theaters,  and 
other  social  attractions,  not  to  mention  the 


social  functions  connected  with  the  schools. 
But  there  seems  to  be  but  one  explanation. 
The  town  churches  are  more  specialized  to  the 
purposes  of  religious  worship  than  are  the 
rural  churches.  The  social  and  intellectual 
functions  of  life  being  provided  by  secular 
institutions  the  churches  can  devote  them- 
selves almost  entirely  to  ethical  and  religious 
work.  And  thus  they  secure  the  larger 
proportionate  attendance  and  are  more  truly 
churches.  So  the  principle  is  that  a  church 
must  make  ethical  and  religious  values  pre- 
eminent in  order  to  be  a  true  Christian  church. 
And  the  companion  precept  is,  make  your 
church  genuinely  spiritual  if  you  would  gain 
for  it  the  widest  influence  with  men. 

This  principle  applies  to  the  relation  of 
churches  to  their  sister  churches  of  other  de- 
nominations in  the  same  communities.  Un- 
brotherly  strife  between  churches  is  their 
greatest  possible  betrayal  into  the  ranks  of 
Christian  unreality  and  social  loneliness.  I 
believe  that  the  most  important  single  line 
of  work  that  can  be  undertaken  in  the 
churches  and  for  the  churches  of  rural  New 
England  is  in  the  direction  of  the  feder- 
ation and  Christian  cooperation  of  religious 
forces. 

This  principle  also  applies  to  the  relation 
of  the  country  church  to  its  brother  soci- 
eties that  are  not  religious.  There  need  be 
no  clash  between  the  church  and  the  secret 
orders.  There  is  work  enough  for  both  to  do. 
Neither  needs  to  seek  to  incorporate  or  to 
displace  the  functions  of  the  other.  If  a  per- 
son can  not  be  a  better  fraternity  man  for  be- 
ing at  the  same  time  a  church  member  the 
church  needs  a  thorough  revival.  If  a  man 
can  not  be  a  better  church  member  for  be- 
longing to  a  social  order  the  church  has  not 
performed  its  normal  duty  to  society. 

The  church  must  be  genuine  in  its  spiritual 
functions  and  social  relationships  if  it  would 
win  men  to  strong  and  dominant  character. 

What  should  be  the  special  social  adapta- 
tions by  country  churches  in  the  making  of 
Christian  manhood  ? 

In  the  fifty  country  and  town  churches 
which  I  studied  twelve  boys'  and  young  men's 
social  clubs  were  closely  observed.  Most  of 
them  had  constitutions,  officers,  membership 
dues,  and  they  were  superintended  by  the 
pastor  or  officers  of  the  church.  While  their 
social  aspects  were  most  prominent  their 
primary  motive  was  at  least  indirectly  re- 
ligious. 


THE  COUNTRY  CHURCH  AND  THE  MAKING  OF  MANHOOD   107 


The  leading  good  results  from  these  soci- 
eties are  the  following:  One  club  of  forty 
boys  and  young  men  was  instrumental  in 
bringing  about  twenty-five  of  their  number 
into  membership  in  young  people's  religious 
societies.  In  every  instance  the  church  at- 
tendance of  all  boys  was  greatly  increased. 
The  clubs  increased  politeness,  unselfishness, 
and  true  comradeship  among  the  boys.  They 
were  a  decided  help  morally.  A  bad  class  of 
reading,  direct  tendencies  toward  the  social 
evil,  and  harmful  personal  associations  were 
overcome.  Several  boys  had  their  entire 
moral  life  transformed  for  the  better.  They 
were  an  educational  help.  At  least  twelve 
conversions  resulted  from  the  twelve  clubs. 
They  seemed  to  be  a  positive  help  in  social- 
izing the  church.  They  helped,  the  churches 
to  feel  that  they  were  doing  something  worth 
while.  They  helped  the  boys  to  feel  that  the 
churches  had  real  value.  They  gave  the 
churches  strength  in  their  communities. 

These  positive  results  are  enough  to  show 
that  country  churches  as  well  as  city  churches 
can  do  successful  institutional  work  in  behalf 
of  young  men.  That  person  is  entirely  mis- 
taken who  thinks  that  there  can  not  be  coun- 
try institutional  churches.  The  boys  of  the 
country  as  well  as  those  of  the  city  have  then- 
natural  cliques  or  gangs  which  are  in  reality 
boys'  clubs.  The  church  does  a  great  service 
in  character  formation  if  it  can  ethicize  and 
evangelize  these  natural  clubs.  And,  further- 
more, many  evangelistic  enterprises  in  coun- 
try churches  have  entirely  failed  with  the 
young  people  because  the  churches  were 
lacking  in  distinctly  social  interest  and  power. 

But  there  are  two  sides  to  this  question  of 
social  clubs  for  boys  and  young  men  in 
country  churches.  At  best  they  are  never 
more  than  the  servants  of  the  churches  in  the 
making  of  manhood. 

One  difficulty  with  social  clubs  in  country 
churches  is  that  where  they  are  the  most 
wanted  they  are  the  least  needed.  And  they 
can  never  gain  any  true  Christian  end  when 
the  boys  are  permitted  to  be  the  passive  re- 
cipients of  them  as  churchly  favors.  Their 
watchword  should  always  be  that  of  heroic 
endeavor  and  chivalric  service  by  the  boys 
themselves. 

Let  no  country  pastor  try  to  atone  for  his 
lack  of  personal  power  in  gaining  the  friend- 
ship of  every  boy  in  his  community  by  or- 
ganizing a  boys'  club.  The  normal  functions 
of  home  and   parenthood   should  never  be 


shirked  in  the  vain  hope  that  the  club  can 
do  as  good  work  for  the  boys. 

There  are  several  definite  plans  which 
country  churches  should  consider  before 
they  launch  in  their  churches  more  or  less 
formidable,  formal,  and  permanent  boys' 
clubs.  Sunday-school  classes,  mission-study 
and  Bible  classes  may  be  temporarily  in- 
stitutionalized by  organizing  them  with 
officers  and  special  social  features  to  meet  in 
the  home  of  the  pastor  or  some  competent 
teacher.  Another  line  of  work  is  to  adapt  the 
social  enterprises  of  the  Sunday-school,  young 
people's  society,  or  ladies'  aid  society  for 
monthly,  or,  better  still,  weekly  socials  in  the 
homes  or  parlors  of  the  church,  such  socials 
to  be  organized  with  special  reference  to 
young  men's  needs. 

Where  boys'  clubs  are  needed  and  can  be 
wisely  directed  from  both  personal  and  re- 
ligious standpoints  such  standard  organiza- 
tions as  the  Knights  of  King  Arthur  and  the 
Phi  Alpha  Pi  Societies  of  the  County  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  work  are  in 
general  an  improvement  on  what  country 
churches  can  do  unassisted.  The  latter  of 
these  seems  to  have  more  religious  advantage 
and  less  social  disadvantage  than  the  former. 

Let  the  pastors  and  workers  of  all  our 
country  churches  resolve  that  every  last  boy 
and  young  man  in  their  communities  shall 
have  both  the  opportunity  and  the  incentive 
to  appropriate  and  to  enjoy  the  social,  ethical, 
and  religious  values  for  which  the  Christian 
church  stands. 

What  the  country  church  wants  for  its 
young  men  is  Christian  manhood.  This  is  the 
highest  ideal  and  the  hardest  task  that  any 
church  can  possibly  set  for  itself. 

To  conciliate  the  young  men  and  lead  them 
to  become  friends  and  helpers  of  the  church 
is  a  high  standard,  but  it  is  not  enough.  The 
church  should  be  a  spiritual  brotherhood,  and 
the  young  men  a  part  of  it.  To  bring  the 
young  men  into  formal  membership  in  the 
churches  is  important  and  necessary,  but 
it  should  be  an  outward  expression  of  a  deeper 
reality.  We  want  the  young  men  to  know 
by  conscious  experience  that  they  are  sons 
of  God.  This  is  the  most  essential  step- 
ping stone.  But  vivid  devotional  experience 
without  discriminating  intellect,  strong  moral 
fiber,  and  commanding  social  power  is  not 
what  we  seek.  Christian  manhood,  which 
incorporates  the  good  from  all  these,  is  our 
only  real  standard. 


ytta*  fa  Iw /*<**• 


vv-f  c 


